Significance of Soil Fungi as an Inexaustible Source of Antibiotics

Fungi are a diverse group of microorganisms and soil provides perfect habitat for them to produce new antibiotics. Fungi form different interactions with soil microbiota in which they produce secondary metabolites that show multiple biological activities. Yield of antimicrobial substances can be enhanced by optimizing extrinsic and intrinsic parameters. Thus, Fusarium, Penicillium, Aspergillus and Rhizopus spp. produce many antimicrobial substances. Different genes including cryptic or silent genes are involved for soil borne fungal antibiotics. These fungal antibiotics have many applications in different industries such as food, agriculture and pharmaceutical industries. Different methods are also used for the analysis of antibiotics production. Some pathogenic microorganisms adopt certain changes and show resistance to the currently available antibiotics and make them ineffective. Due to the occurrence of antibiotic resistance, the discovery of newly emerging antibiotics and semi-synthetic compounds is in high demand. The purpose of this study was to collect information about soil fungi and to highlight their importance to produce novel antibiotics.